This should be my last ‘best of 2023’ post but I thought I’d also make my 2023 Favourites. I did one for my 2022 Favourites / Best Purchases. Most of my 2022 faves still stand but I did discover some goodies in 2023.
Let’s start off with my favourite fashion pieces…
2023 was a big bag year for me. I bought quite a few bags last year. I’ve always loved bags. I remember being a teenager and saving all my allowance/pocket money so I can buy bags and I rotated my bags to school every week. I’ve always been a bag lady and now I’m into vintage and designer pieces.
Celine Seau Sangle
My absolute favourite bag from 2023 is beautiful Celine seau sangle tote bag. I did buy this towards the end of December 2022 but I didn’t start using it until last year. I love the colour and this was my go-to work bag.
I’ve been lusting over the Cleine seau sangle bag for ages. I initially wanted it in black and in the larger size but this came up in the secondhand market for such an amazing price. I’m so glad I got her because she’s beautiful and has been my most used bag last year. This is also Max’s favourite bag from my whole collection. I’ve seen the black in bigger size on someone at my bus to work one day and I’m so glad I’ve got this smaller size instead. It’s perfect.
Longchamp Le Pliage
This was probably my favourite bag purchase in 2023. This is the Longchamp Le Pliage Xtra XS handbag in mahogany leather. I bought this in Lyon, France. Longchamp is a French brand so I thought it was a great souvenir from our trip. It was the first big purchase I made during our Europe trip too. The sales associate said this was a limited edition bag and that it was the last one in Lyon. I fell in love with it and bought it immediately. I honestly didn’t even check the price! Haha
I’ve always liked the Le Pliage bags but this was my first time seeing/feeling the bag in leather. I don’t have any brown leather bags so this was a nice addition to my collection. I love the thicker strap with pink painted accent. I also like the pop of orange inside the flap and under the handles. I’ve used this a lot and it’s a great size.
Coach Tabby 19
I need to mention my white Coach Tabby 19 too because it was my main Singapore souvenir. I got it from the Coach Play Shophouse in Singapore which is an unique Coach boutique with a cafe. Yes, this was an impulse purchase but I love it. I loved the shape of this bag and that the crossbody strap is one full leather. I also don’t have any white/cream bags so this came home with me. The usual Tabby bags are rectangular and I didn’t think that shape was for me, this one was perfect though.
Holiday mode me was an unhinged shopper as I also didn’t look at the price before I said “I’ll take it” to the SA. Lol. I had an amazing service in Coach Singapore and got to make a personalised bag tag and he also gave me a freebies, including an umbrella. I have a few Coach bags now but this is my first brand new purchase from an actual store. Coach has amazing quality for the price and you can take your bags in store to get cleaned/conditioned for free. No regrets with this one at all.
Vintage YSL bag
Last bag for this post but I had to include this vintage YSL bag. I bought it for $57 from Designer Wardrobe because it wasn’t in the best condition. I knew it had potential so I cleaned and stained it back to a more usable condition. I think I did pretty well and it’s such a steal for a vintage piece.
I filmed a video of before and after:
I even brought this bag to Europe with me as it has 5 different compartments and holds a lot more than it looks. This was my most used bag during our trip and it lasted quite well.
YSL cardholder
Lastly within the leather goods category is my YSL cardholder. In 2022 Favourites, I featured my YSL cardholder wallet which was my first big purchase. I still love that but I was after something smaller because I only tend to bring a few cards with me. I also wanted a bright colour so I could easily see it inside my bag.
When we were in Europe, I was in search of a nice cardholder. I really wanted this green croc one from YSL and saw a nice one Prada too but while in Florence, I stopped by the boutique and asked the SA for all the cardholder colours. She brought out this pink one and I bought it. I’ve used it ever since and so far, it’s worn really well.
Moving on to clothes…
Vintage YSL blazer
YSL is probably my favourite designer brand and I stumbled upon this vintage YSL blazer on Trademe for less than $30! It’s in good condition and it’s one of my most worn pieces especially for work. I wore this with jeans, pants, skirts. It’s warm and it looks great. More details of the blazer in this Tiktok video.
Victoria Beckham dress
Another secondhand/DW find was this VB striped dress. I wore this so much in summer and I brought it to Europe with me. I loved wearing this dress. It’s cotton and has pockets. It’s easy and comfy to wear but I still felt stylish. It’s also very me. I wore this the day we went to the Eiffel tower.
Ruby Mirella top
I clearly love pink! Haha. I got this Ruby mirella top last year and it’s been one of my most-worn tops. I love their mirella range and I went in store to check out the new colours. I liked this orchid one so it came home with me. I took it on holiday with me too so I have many photos with me wearing this one.
I also want to have another shoutout to Papinelle PJs because they truly are my favourite pyjamas. I mainly only wear them. As for activewear, I still love and pretty much exclusively wear Hine Collection. I’ve mentioned them in my 2022 Favourites already but I’ve continued loving and wearing them in 2023 as well.
Last one for clothes, I’ve also loved Kmart bodysuits in 2023 and even now. I have both the sleeveless halter and the smoothing bodysuit. These are awesome. Great with shorts, pants, skirts and I sometimes even wear them at home.
As for shoes, I have a few I wanted to feature:
Hermes Oran dupe sandals
Before even going to Europe, I had my eye on the Hermes Orans already. I wanted to try them in person before making the splurge and we also don’t have an Hermes store in NZ for me to see and try them on. When we finally went into an Hermes boutique, I got to try them and I wasn’t convinced they’re worth the €600/$1070NZ price tag. They’re thin, lack any support/cushioning and they’re quite flat so I didn’t get them. I like the style though but for a pair of sandals, they’ cost too much.’re too pricey.
Fast forward a few months in the Philippines and I saw a dupe in SM department store. They were only P999/$30NZ and came in different colours. Sadly they didn’t have my size on the other colours but I managed to get the classic black and light tan. I’ve been wearing the black pair so much as it’s summer here and these are so comfy. They have more padding/cushioning than the Hermes pair and for the price, these are a fave!
If a nice secondhand Hermes Orans do come my way, I won’t be opposed to it but I’m glad I’ve got these dupes at the moment.
Loafers
For work, I’ve loved wearing loafers. I have 2 favourite pairs that I wore interchangeably last year. One is my Coach loafers I got from our Melbourne trip in 2022. I love the design, it’s comfy and they’re grippy. The other pair is the patent ones that have a flatter heel than my Coach pair. If I don’t want to wear heels, I go for the patent.
Moving on to beauty, I have quite a lot of new favourites.
- Chanel Water Fresh Complexion Touch – this is a tint and the more pigmented out of their two water fresh tints. I love this. I picked this up in the Chanel Beauty store in Europe. It gives a natural and nice glow and has a beautiful finish on the skin.
- Chanel Multi-use stick balm – I only picked this up in November at Duty Free before our Philippines trip but I’ve loved it ever since. I’m obsessed with this. It’s amazing. It gives a glowy highlight without the glitter/shimmer.
- Georgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation – I got my friend to pick this up in the UK for me because it’s much cheaper there. This is the best foundation I’ve tried for a beautiful medium-full coverage without being cakey and still looking natural and glowy. There’s a reason people love this one. It’s worth it.
- Hermes lip oil – I picked this up in Paris at Galeries Lafayette. I’ve been wanting to try this for a while and I’m so glad I did. It’s amazing. It’s a mix between an oil and gloss. It’s thicker than most lip oils but it’s not sticky. I already bought another shade of this.
I know the products above are on the higher end (I bought mostly high-end makeup from Europe – here’s my haul) but I also love more affordable makeup. When I went to the Philippines, I stocked up on all the Filipino beauty brands. I can make a separate post on the products I’ve tried alone but if I had to choose my favourites so far, these would be my picks:
- Happy Skin concealer – I have tried so many concealers from cheap to high end brands but nothing compares to this one. It doesn’t crease on me and it has good coverage.
- Issy Active Foundation – My favourite foundation from the Filipino brands I’ve tried. Great coverage and similar finish to GA luminous silk.
- SQUAD Cosmetics lip and cheek tint in Killa – I’m obsessed with this shade and I use it on both cheeks as blush and on the lips.
- blk color adapting lip and cheek oil – Another one I’m obsessed with and I’m halfway through this already. I mainly use this on my lips and it gives a nice pink tint. It’s amazing.
- Careline tinted mint balm – I love a tinted lip balm and this is great. I love the minty feeling and it’s moisturising. I even gifted this to my team and they also liked it. It’s so affordable too!
- Ever Bilena serum tinted balm – this is more moisturising than the Careline one and also a great affordable lip product.
Fenty Skin Plus Puddin’ Intensive Recovery Lip Mask
I still love and can’t live without my Laneige lip sleeping mask and Lip Glowy Balm but last year I bought the Fenty Skin Plus Puddin’ Intensive Recovery Lip Mask and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a great lip mask and I love the application as it’s not an open tube, you twist up and it gives just enough product per use so it’s more hygienic. I have this on my bedside and apply it every night. It’s thicker than the Laneige sleeping mask but also moisturising.
Hermes Un Jardin En Mediterranee perfume
I still also love my Perfume Oil Company perfume oils (were in 2022 Faves) but in 2023, I fell in love with this Hermes perfume. I picked a Hermes perfume set in Rome Airport Duty Free which came with 4 different scents. I gave one each to my sister and mum and kept two. This was my favourite. I used the little bottle from the set so much that I knew I wanted to get the full size bottle. I managed to get this in Rustan’s Philippines. It’s a fresh scent that I Iove.
I’ve also loved beauty tools in 2023:
- LED Mask – I’ve included this in my 2022 Faves already but it’s still a fave in 2023. I use the red light setting every day and I do think it has helped with my skin on top of my skincare routine.
- Microcurrent facial device – I bought this device last year and have been trying to use it more since coming back from my overseas trips. I’ve also noticed a difference when I use this consistently. I think that’s really the ket with the LED mask, this device and good skincare products.
- Water Flosser – this was something I didn’t expect to love but I bought one a few months ago and it has changed the game for us. Max and I use this and we love it. My first flosser broke but thankfully the brand replaced it as it was under warranty. The few weeks we didn’t have a water flosser, Max and I were quite sad about it. It is awesome.
As for the rest of my skincare and haircare favourites, most of them I’ve already mentioned in my 2022 Favourites as I still use them til this day. I featured and tried some great products in 2022 so check those out in my post as I don’t want to repeat those in here.
Gel Nail Kit
I briefly mentioned my gel nail kit in this early 2023 post. I bought this kit back in January and this has been one of the best 2023 purchases I made. I love having cute nails and I’ve saved money by having my own kit. I enjoy doing my nails. I hate taking them off but I enjoy painting my nails and being able to change them whenever I feel like it. Max has also painted my nails using my kit. He said he enjoyed it and he did pretty well for someone who has never done nails before.
I’m very much still a novice but I love it and my go-to is a pink colour with glitter. I have quite a lot of polishes now but I’m building up my collection to more better quality polishes. My favourite has been Gelous nail polishes. I will definitely be continuing to do my nails this year.
Travel Favourites
Since 2023 was a big overseas travel year for me, I thought I’d include the best travel essentials after I’ve done our big trips.
- Good luggage - I got our luggage sets from luggage.co.nz. I have the green set which I love and it survived the cobblestone streets of Europe, multiple train journeys and also the Philippines. Max is the Explorer set and his didn’t survive as well as mine. They both have pros and cons but I’m happy I got matching set for my trips.
- Compression packing cubes – these were a lifesaver. I will not travel without compression packing cubes again. A must!
- AirFly – another must for plane travel for me. This was my most used during our travel days. You connect this on the plane so you can use your own Bluetooth earphones to watch movies or shows. I used my noise-cancelling headphones (also a favourite) with these and it’s a great travel combo.
- AirTag – if you have apple products. I put one in my check-in luggage just for peace of mind that my luggage made it to our destination along with me.
- Universal adapter – I got the one which has all the different countries. It’s super handy as the UK, Europe, Singapore/Philippines and NZ all have different plugs.
- Powerbank – you do not want to be stuck out and about with a flat phone battery.
- Portable mini fan – if you’re travelling in summer, 100% get those travel/portable hand fans. I had a freebie from Laneige and I got asked a few times by other tourists in Europe where I got mine from. I’ve also seen neck fans which are great for hot/humid days.
- White sneakers – sneakers are really the only footwear you’ll need when travelling. I trashed my white Puma Cali sneakers for 5 weeks in Europe/Singapore and also 3 weeks in the Philippines. I finally retired them and left them in the Philippines but I highly recommend finding a good comfy pair of white sneakers. It goes with every outfit so you don’t need to bring another pair.
If you want to know more on my travel essentials, I did make 2 Tiktoks when I was packing for my trip: Travel essentials 1, Travel essentials 2.
Home Favourites:
Since we moved into our house together (full update here), we’ve been slowly making this house into our home. These are a few home bits I love so far:
- Breville Barista Express coffee machine – when I lived in my old place, my sister bought this coffee machine and I basically had an in-house barista. It was great as out coffee is made fresh from ground beans and I eventually got rid of my Nespresso machine. One of the first things Max bought for the house is a secondhand coffee machine exactly like Joan’s, but in colour black. He’s a big coffee drinker so we use and love this a lot.
- Standing desk – I work from home a few days a week so a standing desk was a worth it purchase for me. I’m currently writing this post standing up. I’m glad I got an electric one. It’s made my wfh setup much better.
- Palm Beach watermelon candle – I got this huge candle (photo on the right) from Freedom Furniture on sale. It smells so good and I haven’t lit it yet. When I’m on the couch, I sometimes get a whiff of the scent and it’s lovely.
We’re far from done furnishing our home so it would be interesting what this list would be like next year!
This is everything I can remember for my 2023 favourites/best purchases. It’s an extensive list so if you’ve reached this point, thanks for checking out my post! đŸ™‚
Links:
A Style Collector 